Then There's No Room for Negotiation

Reborn into this second life, Ye Chu Chen's heart had grown completely dead.

Toward his father Ye Ding, his younger sister Ye Ling'er, and his older sisters Ye Han, Ye Qingqing, and the rest...

He felt nothing but absolute, visceral disgust.

Not a single shred of longing for familial affection remained in his heart.

There was only hatred!

Only loathing!

Only absolute revulsion!!

He only wanted to abandon this wretched place as quickly as possible, to escape this graveyard!

To abandon the Ye family-the immortal clan that had risen to power solely because of him, Ye Chu Chen!

"How ironic."

Recalling the blood and sweat he had bled for the Ye family, for his father Ye Ding, and for his sisters in his previous life, Ye Chu Chen laughed in bitter self-mockery.

After his divine body shattered and his cultivation was crippled, Ye Chu Chen's status plummeted. He was systematically alienated, pushed to the darkest margins of the clan.

To curry favor with his father and sisters, Ye Chu Chen had sacrificed far too much.

He had braved deadly mountains and toxic marshes to harvest the spiritual herb, the Nine Yang Grass. Unable to bear consuming it himself, he eagerly gifted it to his younger sister Ye Ling'er to temper her bones and purge the impurities from her marrow.

Yet Ye Ling'er had looked at him as if he were a beggar. Pinching her nose in disgust, she accepted the Nine Yang Grass, scrubbed it raw with pristine water right before his eyes, then turned and beamingly presented it to Ye Xuan...

When his third sister Ye Qingqing was on the verge of a breakthrough, Ye Chu Chen dragged his broken body to the furnace, spending three days and three nights without sleep to refine a Barrier-Breaking Pill for her.

The pill furnace exploded several times, leaving Ye Chu Chen battered and scorched. When he finally succeeded and ecstatically presented the Barrier-Breaking Pill to Ye Qingqing, she simply pinched her nose and casually tossed it to her spirit hound. She even ordered him never to appear before her again, claiming his presence polluted the Spiritual Qi.

When his fifth sister Ye Han began studying the Dao of Formations, Ye Chu Chen transcribed his own profound insights into the Formation Dao and offered them for her enlightenment.

Though his cultivation was crippled, his mastery over the Formation Dao remained absolute. It was no exaggeration to say that among the younger generation of the entire Desolate Ancient Continent, save for the Demonic Empress Lin Shuwang, no one could surpass him in the Dao of Formations.

If Ye Han cultivated according to the Formation Dao he had transcribed, becoming a Formation Grandmaster would be nothing but a matter of time.

But Ye Han had struggled fruitlessly. After days of Secluded Cultivation, she failed to construct even the most basic Formation. Frustrated and irritable, seeing Ye Chu Chen rush excitedly toward her instantly ignited the furious killing intent in her heart.

"Ye Chu Chen, do you not know I am in Secluded Cultivation? Disturbing me now-are you trying to force me into Qi Deviation?!"

"You useless waste, you clearly want me to become a cripple just like you. How can your heart be so venomous?!"

Ye Chu Chen opened his mouth, but before a single word of explanation could escape, a vicious surge of True Essence ruthlessly slammed into him.

"Ah!!"

Accompanied by the sickening crunch of shattering bone and a blood-curdling scream, his fifth sister Ye Han mercilessly snapped one of Ye Chu Chen's legs.

"What is this?!"

Completely ignoring Ye Chu Chen as he writhed on the ground with a shattered leg, Ye Han's gaze caught the manual on the Formation Dao clutched in his trembling hand. She swiped her fingers, violently seizing it through the air.

"Excellent! With this Great Dao of Formations, Xiao Xuan and I will certainly become Formation Grandmasters!"

"You useless trash-could you not have picked a better time to deliver this? Skulking around like a ghost, I thought you were here to assassinate me. You brought this broken leg upon yourself."

Leaving those callous words behind, Ye Han paid no further attention to Ye Chu Chen's agonizing struggles. Clutching the Great Dao of Formations, she hummed a cheerful melody, turned back into her secret chamber, and resumed her Secluded Cultivation.

As for Ye Chu Chen, he dragged his mangled leg, struggling in the dirt for a long time before he could barely stand. Using a wooden branch as a crutch, he limped away into the gloom.

Ye Chu Chen clearly remembered the torrential rain that day-raining so heavily it blurred his vision.

Beyond that, there was his eldest sister, his second sister...

Except for his deceased mother, every single one of his siblings who soared above the younger generation, who grasped supreme achievements in alchemy, artifact forging, Formations, and Talismans... owed their very success to him, Ye Chu Chen!!

Even his profoundly mediocre father, Ye Ding, had only shattered his bottlenecks to reach the Saint realm and secure his throne as Patriarch solely because of Ye Chu Chen.

Even the Ye family ancestor, Ye Shanhe, whose vital blood was withering and lifespan nearing its absolute end, was only able to assault the Quasi-Emperor realm while standing with one foot in the grave...

All of it, every single miracle, was inseparable from Ye Chu Chen!

He was the Chosen One, bearing heaven-defying Providence.

When Ye Chu Chen's cultivation was crippled and his path severed, his overflowing Providence had bled out, scattering across the Ye family and blessing the entire clan.

Although his Chaos God Physique was shattered, the blood flowing through Ye Chu Chen's veins still carried a primordial trace of Chaos Qi.

Chaos Qi, nurtured by Heaven and Earth, was the supreme origin of all things in the universe.

Using his blood as a primer and his Chaos Qi as a catalyst, refining Pills could reverse the very laws of the Heavenly Dao, elevate cultivation aptitude, and forge flawless spiritual roots.

But this ultimate truth.

No one knew.

No one cared.

No one...

Gave a single damn.

......

Blood is thicker than water-was this the so-called familial bond he had valued above his own life?

He, the youngest Great Saint of the Desolate Ancient Continent, the most heaven-defying supreme prodigy, had shattered his divine body and burned away his cultivation for the so-called prosperity of his clan. And in return, he had pathetically groveled at their feet...

How utterly pathetic!!

Calling himself a lapdog would be an insult to actual dogs.

He had just been a fool.

Being a fool for one lifetime was more than enough.

In this life...

Ye Chu Chen was completely severing all karmic ties with the Ye clan. He only wanted to shake off Ye Ding and those wretched sisters as quickly as possible, distancing himself forever from the home he had once bled for.

But before he departed, he had to retrieve the sole keepsake his mother had left behind.

Pushing open the rotting wooden gate and stepping into his desolate courtyard, Ye Chu Chen walked straight toward the maidservant Die'er, who was languidly lounging in a chair, sunbathing and cracking melon seeds.

Halting before her, Ye Chu Chen extended his hand. His voice was cold, blunt, and cut straight to the point:

"Hand it over."

Die'er was his personal maidservant, tasked with managing his daily meals and living quarters. Yet, ever since his cultivation was shattered, she had stripped away every ounce of her former reverence.

In fact, spurred on by Ye Xuan's hidden backing, she had even begun to trample directly over Ye Chu Chen's head.

"You useless piece of trash, you scared me half to death!"

Startled from her rest, Die'er instinctively bolted upright, her knees buckling to kneel and beg for forgiveness. But the moment she realized the person casting the shadow was none other than her crippled master, she instantly burst into mocking laughter:

"Ye Chu Chen, are you Courting death?! Are you blind to the fact that I was sleeping?"

"If you dare shout at me again, I'll tear your mouth off, I swear it!!"

With those venomous words, Die'er violently thrust her palm forward. Driven by Spiritual Qi, a phantom palm print slammed heavily into Ye Chu Chen's chest, sending him crashing into the dirt.

The Ye family was a newly ascended Eternal Aristocratic Family on the Desolate Ancient Continent, commanding ninety-nine spiritual veins. Even the lowly servants sweeping the courtyards were cultivators possessing considerable strength.

Although Die'er was merely at the Eighth Layer of Essence Condensation, she was more than capable of crushing a mortal like Ye Chu Chen, who had lost every drop of his cultivation.

"The Patriarch has already announced he is severing your bloodline ties and expelling you from the Ye family! And yet you, a useless cripple, still dare to bark orders at me? You are simply Courting death!!"

Logically, even if Ye Chu Chen was a cripple, a mere servant like Die'er should never have dared to act with such unrestrained arrogance.

But standing behind Die'er was Ye Xuan...

"I will not even bother to settle the debt of the Spirit Stones you have embezzled from me all this time. I am leaving the Ye family today. Hand over my mother's keepsake."

Ye Chu Chen pushed himself up from the dust. There was no panic or rage in his eyes. He simply stared at the insolent maidservant, his demeanor unnervingly calm.

He had to admit, even though his soul had been reborn, his current vessel was still crippled. His meridians were shredded, leaving him utterly powerless.

"Ha, and what if I say no?"

Die'er laughed, her body trembling with unrestrained glee, treating Ye Chu Chen as nothing more than a joke.

Ye Chu Chen exhaled a soft breath and slowly withdrew his hand.

Then there is no room for negotiation.

In that case...